


The Wild Card

by TheNillaWafer



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Canon Backstory, F/M, Fluff, Heavy use of imagery (to the point that it's barely a cognitive fic but okay?), Implied/Referenced Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Recovery, Spoilers, Trust, Use of Metaverse Codenames, confidant romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 11:53:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12131919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNillaWafer/pseuds/TheNillaWafer
Summary: The wild card has been dealt, a king has fallen and a caged panther finds freedom at last. It's a strange set of circumstances for Ann Takamaki--everything from how she got into this mess, to where she stands now. Regardless, she's pleased with her life now. With the strength she's discovered, and the most important bond she's made, she'll continue to fight on.(Based on Ann's Confidant Romance in-game, spoilers for the first palace and character backstory)





	The Wild Card

**Author's Note:**

> To be fair, I ship Akira with almost everyone but as I was finally finishing the tail end of P5 and finally getting to the romance goodness, it hit me--Ann needs more love and attention. She does. She's gone though a lot of crazy shit that no one, especially a young child, should go through. Hence, the entire time I romanced her, I kept this in the back of my head because it made it all the more worth it.

The differences between a king and a joker are too numerous to count. 

Ann Takamaki knows this far too well.

She’s seen the differences first hand and it’s too much to take in all at once. In fact, it takes her days, weeks,  _ months,  _ even before it finally sets in. 

She’s free from the King’s reign. 

You see, one difference is that a king’s say is absolute. A king follows his suit to his liking. There is no swaying, no bending, no ifs, ands or buts. There are rules and boundaries for all he sees. When a king says to rise, you rise. When a king says sit, you sit.  _ When a king says ‘don’t tell anyone’, you don’t dare tell anyone anything.  _

But a joker on the other hand, follows no boundaries, as he’s not bound to any kingdom, king, or suit for that matter. He’s the unsuspecting strike, the ace in the hole, the  _ wild card _ , so to speak. 

In this case, the Joker is the catalyst. 

The Joker is the fool who frees the rebellious Pirate from his shackles, who leads the masked Vigilante to the truth, and who frees the raging Panther from her cage.

Hungry.

Thirsty.

Ready. 

The King is unprepared, and the starved, angered Panther takes her revenge as the Joker himself fuels her, guides her to her full potential. 

He continues this, even long after the wretched king has fallen, she realizes. 

Ann’s senses become more acute as she becomes more open and more free to the world she’s been locked away from as she watches the Joker carefully, cautiously. He’s a deceitful man, but only to those who deserve it, she learns. Where the King takes a swift slice of a knife, she receives a soft, warm touch of a hand. Where the King meets a glowering glare of determined, burning eyes brimming to the rim with hatred, Ann meets a pair that settle into the depths of contentment and kindness, still and calm. 

The tortured Panther isn’t used to this hospitality. She finds it so strange, so unusual, so...  _ loving.  _

Another difference between a king and a joker is the position of power. The King establishes his power through total dominance. He’s physically strong, he’s loud, he’s demanding, he’s aggressive. The King sees himself far above the rest and demands that everyone bends to him and his desires. The Joker holds his own power, his own selfish desire to grow in strength not for power, but for leadership. His true nature is selfless, beating down the corrupt, defending the weak and uplifting the weary to equal footing. 

The King’s toy, a mere plaything, is so used to being battered--not in the same way his unfortunate subjects were, bless their young souls--it sends chills up her spine every time she sees that crooked, perverted grin in her mind’s eye. While her marks weren’t physical remnants that could be seen and viewed on display like badges or battle scars as the loyal servants wore them, hers were physiological, ingrained and burned into her brain. 

Ann knows they’ll never leave. She’d take those marks--those visions, the hushed voices, the humility and just that powerless feeling of hopelessness--to her grave. The Joker is aware of this as well as he’d never be able to erase them completely. But the starved Panther still suffers and his bleeding heart yearns to make things right--to help her,  _ to save her.  _

She’s cautious, jumping between fleeting flinches and sinister growls of defense, but she allows it, because truthfully, she wants this too. She wants this more than anything right now because even after it all, she’s grown to trust the Trickster in every way possible. 

If the Joker said rise, she’d rise and if the Joker said sit, she’d sit; not from a position of power like that of the distorted King, but as a sense of respect for his leadership, his kindness and his trust he’s proven to her. 

The hazed nightmares blotted by her tears of thick, sweaty hands roughly grasping onto bare skin give way to soft butterfly kisses of slender fingers; a tongue dripping with toxic venom breaks away into ticklish pecks from chapped lips; the disgusting, burning aftertaste of alcohol and rancid food melting into sweet, freshly brewed coffee she couldn’t get enough to drink; hot, humid wisps of grotesque breath slip into content little hums and giggles of young lovers...

Ann feels the world around her grow softer by each passing second and her sheld falters. Time slows while her heart accelerates in the inverse and as the two pull back for air, she tells herself to allow this image to replace the previous one. Let the image of that absurd pig burn in the flames while she hangs this new one up in its place: the Joker taking in her natural features in admiration and loving awe, not raw, aggressive hunger; a goofy grin plastered on his face as he admits he’s never done this before, and a blush that tints his cheeks to the brightest shade of red she’s ever seen. It’s...  _ innocent,  _ that’s the word that comes to her mind and suddenly she realizes, that’s the first time she’s ever experienced that as well.

The King of the Castle and his iron rule stole away her innocence. The Joker stole it right back, just for her, to the best of his ability. 

So when the young man says in that soft, almost inaudible voice of his, “I love you.” She knows he means it. She feels it in the depths of her soul and it reads in her bright blue eyes to him like a book he’s reading for the very first time. Where the King spat and slithered with his venomous tongue a slew of her body, her ‘use’ to him,  _ their deal,  _ all of that slowly burning away into what she could only hope would be ashes to be carried in the proverbial wind. Funny, how the King himself never once professed his “love” to such a close companion when it’s the King who should be looking out for his people, his subjects, his land,  _ his lover.  _ And yet, here was this sly, cunning man, this dangerous crook of a being who, apparently, could kill a man in cold blood, gazing into her with his steel-plated eyes brimming with love-- _ true love,  _ the kind that leaves your body numb and tingly--admiration and support and swears that he’ll never leave--not only as a lover, but as a friend, a supporter, a _ companion  _ as well.

Tell her. Tell her how in the hell is that supposed to work. 

It doesn’t matter, however. Ann finds herself content and at peace in the loving embrace and she admits that she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Her heart thuds and rattles against her chest like it’s threatening to break free. Perhaps, in a sense, it already has. The caged Panther can now roam freely with the fool who saved her. The cunning Joker and the ferocious Panther, side by side...

She kisses him again and moves to settle into his shoulder, “...I love you too, Akira.” 


End file.
